Vol. 65 No. 342 | FRIDAY | JUNE 10, 2022 | 20 Pages | EDITIONS: MUMBAI*, Pune, Indore, Bhopal, Konkan, E-paper RS CLIFF-HANGER TODAY DESPITE UNCERTAINTY, EQUITY MUTUAL FUNDS RAKE IN Rs 18,529 CR INFLOWS IN MAY OUR BUREAU NEW DELHI The election of the President of India will be held on July 18 to facilitate the swearing-in of the new President on July 25, since incumbent Ram Nath Kovind’s 5-year tenure ends on July 24. The buzz is that President Kovind will not be nominated for a second term and the new candidate is likely to be announced soon. Thus far, only first president Rajendra Prasad has been elected twice. So far, no political party has named its candidate for the top constitutional post. The Congress has indicated it will start the exercise after the Rajya Sabha polls on June 10; it will consult all opposition parties and suggest that a non-political person be picked up as a joint candidate. However, there is little likelihood of a consensus candidate emerging, who is acceptable to both the BJP and the Opposition parties. In 2017, the BJP had picked Kovind, a Dalit and then Governor of Bihar, for the country’s highest office, causing a flutter in the opposition camp. The opposition had fielded Meira Kumar -- the former Speaker of the Lok Sabha, who also happens to be a Dalit and hails from Bihar. Kovind had then secured 65.65 per cent of the total 702,044 Electoral CONTD. ON NATION PAGE College votes. BRING MOOSEWALA’S MURDERERS TO JUSTICE SONIA TAKES LEAD SANJAY JOG MUMBAI SANJAY JOG MUMBAI Hours after the Election Commission announced the schedule for the presidential election on July 18, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, in a telephonic call, asked leaders from Maharashtra to meet NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena President and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray with a message that like-minded parties ought to field a common nominee to take on the BJP candidate. Following Sonia’s instructions, Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat, who is also the Congress Legislature Party leader, and Public Work Minister Ashok Chavan, accompanied by Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, met Pawar at his Silver Oak residence and held discussion on fielding a consensus candidate of non-BJP and like-minded parties in the presidential election. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE The Maha Vikas Aghadi on Thursday received a jolt of sorts after the PMLA court rejected the pleas of NCP leaders Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh, who had sought bail for a day to participate in the polling for six Rajya Sabha seats slated for June 10. The duo’s votes were critical for the election of four nominees of the ruling alliance, comprising Sanjay Raut and Sanjay FADNAVIS UP & ABOUT Senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis has recovered from Covid; he tested negative on Thursday and can now cast his crucial vote in the Rajya Sabha election on Friday. ONLINE REPORT MUMBAI A special court on Thursday rejected the pleas by Maharashtra Cabinet Minister Nawab Malik and former State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh seeking temporary bail for a day to cast their votes in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections, following which both the NCP leaders moved the Bombay High Court. The plea in the High Court has challenged the order passed by special judge RN Rokade; SWEETY ADIMULAM MUMBAI Aiming to bring in transparency and minimize buyerseller disputes the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA), has standardized the proforma of allotment letters. As per the THE LINES The suburbs of Bandra, Khar, Santacruz and Andheri were greeted with pre-monsoon showers on Thursday evening, after a gruelling hot and humid day In the India . Meteorological Department jargon, these were the 'convectional rains' which occur when the hot air from the earth's surface rises along with  water vapour, CONTD. ON NATION PAGE Five more girls implicate karate coach for abuse FPJ NEWS SERVICE NAGPUR After the arrest of a karate instructor for allegedly raping an 11-year-old student in Nagpur, five more girls have come forward, claiming to have been molested by him, police said on Wednesday. The Kanhan police on Wednesday registered five more FIRs against Gopal Rameshwar Gondane, 40, who has been arrested in the rape case, an official said. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE Alcoholic kills wife, sets body ablaze ABHITASH SINGH THANE A man is reported to have killed his wife then set her body ablaze behind a hut at Mahakali Dhaba in the Chavindra area of Bhiwandi in Thane district on Tuesday . The Bhiwandi taluka police arrested the accused within 10-12 hours after the incident. Senior Police Inspector Dattatray Borate of Bhiwandi Taluka Police station said, “The accused, Santosh Chaurasia, 40, was living with his wife Kavita Chaurasia, 35, and two children in the Chavindra area, Savande, at Bhiwandi. Kavita’s relatives would frequently visit Santosh’s house and he did not like this. On Tuesday, around 12pm, Kavita and Santosh had an argument over this and a drunk Santosh hit his wife with a wooden stick. It has been revealed that the accused murdered his wife and later, burnt her body behind the pavilion near his hut. We have registered a case of murder under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 302.” Borate further added, “We were informed about the incident by the locals and Santosh was absconding after the incident but we succeeded in arresting him within 10-12 hours of the incident. Santosh was an alcoholic and he always had fights with Kavita in front of their children. Kavita’s brother Bharat Roj registered a complaint against his brother-in-law.  CONTD. ON NATION PAGE MUMBAI BREAKS WORLD RECORD D omestic giants Mumbai on Thursday broke the world record for highest margin of victory in the history of firstclass cricket as they crushed minnows Uttarakhand by a staggering 725 runs on the fourth day of their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal here and stormed into the semifinals. Mumbai broke New South Wales’ 92year-old Sheffield Shield record when they beat Queensland by 685 runs. In the Ranji Trophy, the previous record for highest margin for victory was held by Bengal, who had defeated Odisha by 540 runs in 1953-54. INTERPOL ALERT FOR GOLDY BRAR I nterpol has issued a Red Corner Notice against Satinderjit Singh, alias Goldy Brar, who has claimed responsibility for the murder of Sidhu Moosewala. Incidentally, the Punjab police had sought a red corner notice against Brar ten days before the murder of Moosewala, in connection with in two separate cases registered against him in Faridkot. The cases were registered in November 2020 and February 2021, in which he had been accused of murder, attempt to murder and under the Arms Act. Born in Punjab’s Muktsar Sahib, Goldy Brar, 28, had gone to Canada on a student visa in 2017 and is an active member of the gang of Lawrence Bishnoi, who has been named as a mastermind in the murder case. Library for all, visually and physically impaired LAST WORD AMIT SRIVASTAVA NAVI MUMBAI The central library in Sanpada, being planned by the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC), promises to be accessible to all. It will have books in Braille, for the visually impaired, and the physically challenged will be able to access and read books easily. The civic body has planned to make it one of the best in the country, by housing a range of books useful for this day and age. After taking the library to slum dwellers, the civic body has decided to create adequate facilities for the blind and the disabled at its central library “There . will be adequate facilities for the blind and disabled so that they can read books of their interest and choice,” said Municipal Commissioner Abhijit Bangar. He added that inclusiveness is key to keeping the reading habit alive in the city . laundering case. Deshmukh, who is the former home minister, is also in jail on similar allegations. They had requested a day’s bail to cast their vote in the Rajya Sabha election on Friday but the court agreed with , the ED’s argument that ‘prisoners do not have voting rights’. The MVA is banking on support from Independents and smaller parties, though the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi, with three MLAs, is yet to reveal its strategy CONTD. ON NATION PAGE . the plea has been filed as two separate writ petitions invoking Article 227 of the Constitution and Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, seeking to quash the order of the special judge, reports Bar and Bench. The two senior politicians from the NCP have sought relief on an urgent basis since the elections for the Rajya Sabha are scheduled on June 10 (Friday). The matter was mentioned late Thursday evening by Justice PD Naik for urgent listing who expressed doubts about the correctness of CONTD. ON NATION PAGE the forum. 330c. 270c. Sunrise: 06:00 am Sunset : 07:16 pm ‘No talks’ on Prophet row with Iran FM FPJ NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI Even before the din over comments on the Prophet settle down, another controversy is knocking at Centre’s door. The latest controversy was ignited by a claim of Iran’s visiting Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian that in a meeting with NSA Ajit Doval he was assured of action against the offenders, so that ‘‘others will learn a lesson.’’ Hossein Amir-Abdollahian is the first big visitor from West Asia since Tehran joined Kuwait, Qatar and other Gulf nations in condemning the comments on the Prophet. News agency PTI had quoted the Iranian readout as saying Abdollahian raised the issue of the “negative atmosphere” triggered by “disrespectful” comments on the Prophet and that the Indian side reiterated the Indian government’s respect for the founder of Islam. The government, however, denied that the remarks made by the suspended and expelled CONTD. ON NATION PAGE MahaRERA puts out model allotment letter BETWEEN SHERINE RAJ MUMBAI Pawar (Shiv Sena), Praful Patel (NCP) and Imran Pratapgarhi (Congress). The BJP has fielded three nominees, including Piyush Goyal, Anil Bonde and Dhananjay Mahadik. In the wake of the court’s ruling denying bail to Malik and Deshmukh, the MVA’s strength has diminished to 166 and its quota to 40.67 votes. Malik, a Maharashtra minister, has been in jail since his arrest in February by the Enforcement Directorate in a money HC TO TAKE CALL ON BAIL FOR VOTE RAIN GOD IS OUT OF HIS HIDEOUT, IN SUBURBS Pre-monsoon rain, finally I FEEL PROUD THAT MY SON HAS NOW STARTED GETTING GOOD WORK: SHEKHAR SUMAN Malik, Deshmukh fail to get bail, can’t vote; with diminished strength, MVA banking on independents and smaller parties; Covid-stricken MLAs can vote PIC: SALMAN ANSARI PREZ POLL JULY 18 EDIT “NMMC has been taking a number of measures to preserve the habit of reading and the ideological development of the city. As part of it, around 19 libraries have already been started in the civic jurisdiction and more than one lakh books have been made available,” said Bangar. The central library is being developed near Juinagar railway station in Sanpada on a CIDCO plot. “The architecture of the four-storied library building has been planned after studying the architecture of modern libraries from various countries, including Germany and Europe,” said a senior official from the CONTD. ON NATION PAGE NMMC. newly approved model allotment letter, now, the developer must mention the date of handing over possession of booked property the percent, age of charges levied on cancellation of booking, parking allotment, execution of the agreement on acceptance of 10 per cent of the consideration Standardised format expected to minimise disputes of the flat amount.  Hitesh Thakkar, a developer from Mumbai and vice-president, NAREDCO West, said this would largely resolve disputes between buyers and developers. “The common com- plaints raised are that ‘the developer levied this much forfeiture charges’, ‘did not provide the sale agreement’ and ‘the parking allotment information was not clearly mentioned’, among others. All these will stop as the model allotment letter comes into force from now on.” Similarly Ramesh Prabhu, , chairman, Maharashtra Societies Welfare Association (MahaSeWA), has also welcomed the model allotment letter introduced by MahaRERA. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE